MELBOURNE, AR- It’s easy to compete when people come out in mass to see you play. Heck, sometimes they even come out in big numbers just to watch you practice.

But for some athletes, such as Paris All-State track star, Mason Ulrich, and Paris golfer Emily Patterson, their sports are a labor of love. No one comes out to watch them as they invest countless hours in practicing the skills necessary for their sports. And few people come out to watch them compete.

Anyone who has played the game of golf knows how difficult a sport it is to play. It requires a variety of skills to use each club, and countless days, weeks, and months of frequent play to perfect the sport.

For the second straight year, Paris High School senior Emily Patterson has finished in the top five of all individual golfers in Class 3A in Arkansas. In 2022, as a junior, Patterson finished fifth in the state individually. This year, Patterson placed fourth.

So, all of the days of practice…all of the days when no one was there except her family and coach, has paid off for this Paris High School student who is also the top of her graduating class academically.

Recently, RNN Sports had the pleasure of visiting with Emily following her return from the 2023 state golf tournament. Emily is a very modest person who is very personable and humble about her successes, both on the golf course, and in the classroom.

So, as we began our interview, I asked Emily to back up to the beginning of her story when she first began to play golf. Emily began by saying, “I started the summer before my freshman year (of high school). I started taking lessons.”

Emily began taking lessons from Jim Edgin of Altus. Emily explained, “He is only here (Paris) in the summers, and in the winters, he goes to Florida and coaches in Florida. He is a family friend, so I can always call him up ask him advice or a lesson.”

From that point her freshman year, Emily played golf for the Eagles for four years. She played in seasonal matches all four years. She played in district tournaments in every year except her freshman year. Much of her freshman year was devoted to learning how to play the game after just having started to play the summer before.

In Emily’s junior year, she placed second individually in a tie with another girl in the district tournament. She accomplished this just three years after having taken up the sport. That same year, Emily qualified for the state tournament and finished fifth overall. Emily would go on to finished second individually at district her senior year, and fourth in state.

It is nothing short of amazing that Emily was able to begin golf at what is normally considered a fairly late point to go on to have the success at the state level that she has in just three to four short years. In the sport of golf, it is not unusual for golfers to “grow up with a golf club in their hands” as young children and to become very proficient by age 14. This, in my opinion, makes Emily’s accomplishment even more impressive.

When asked if anyone else in her family was a golfer or had played golf, she answered, “No, not really.” So, this is all Emily’s talent and work that she has invested to get her to the place that she enjoys today. “For the most part (that is all true). My dad pushed me to start it (playing golf). He was friends with the guy who I took lessons with because they both work together. He told me that there were a lot of opportunities here and a lot of golf scholarships for girls and that it can really help you in college. He was like, why don’t you just try it out, and if you like it, we can keep doing it. And I ended up liking it!”

It was Emily’s sophomore year that she knew that she really liked the sport of golf. “My freshman year was fun, and I ended up hitting a lot of good golf balls. But my sophomore year, I began getting a lot of really good hits. I was like, wow, I can really do something here.”

At the end of this academic year, Emily will take her place at the head of the class at graduation, then she will be on to the next step of her adult life. I asked Emily what her plans were for college and beyond, and she shared with me, “I’m not entirely sure where I want to go or if I want to continue playing golf. I guess it just depends on if I have any offers. And scholarship-wise, too, because I have pretty good academic grades too, so it really depends on if I can go somewhere that can give me the best scholarships and opportunities.”

And among those opportunities for Emily will be a career as a pharmacist. Emily wants to study pre-pharmacy as an undergraduate student in college. Balancing the academics of pre-pharmacy and playing college golf can be challenging, but with Emily, she has been preparing for this moment for several years.

In addition to leading her class academically, Emily has played two and three sports at Paris high school, as well as now working part time at a local business in Paris. She has learned how to balance her time and excel at everything she does. These are all great experiences that will help her be successful in college, no matter what path she ultimately decides to take.

Emily is well-grounded in her thoughts and in her priorities. When I asked her how far she wanted to take her golf, she responded by saying, “Golf is a game you can play for a long time. But to be good (I had asked her about dreams of playing in the PGA someday) you have to devote all of your time to the sport. Like, my golf coach’s son is on his way to qualifying for the PGA, and he has sponsors and travels all of the time. And he really doesn’t get to do another job; golf is his job.”

The sport of golf itself takes a lot of time and practice to gain any degree of proficiency. “I took golf lessons during the summer, every week, one day a week (her freshman year.) I didn’t really practice that much after school started because I was still playing volleyball.” Emily played volleyball her freshman and sophomore year and now plays golf and softball (her junior and senior years). And as I shared before, the time commitment that was required for her to play so many sports and still be top of her class academically is nothing short of amazing.

There have been times when Emily questioned herself on the number of commitments she balanced throughout high school. But she stuck with it, and she has seen the rewards of hard work, discipline, and the organization that has been required to be successful at each endeavor. “There were times, like when I was practicing for state, two hours per day, every day, when I just wanted to stay home and do nothing.” We have all been there, and it is remarkable that Emily kept her focus and continued to work and prepare. That work ethic and discipline is why she is the top student in her school as well as one of the top golfers in the state.

Emily is not sure where she wants to attend college next fall. She indicated in our interview that she would like to stay fairly close to home. “I definitely want to stay close to home. I have applied to a lot of colleges and have been accepted, it is just deciding where I want to go.”

From here, Emily is playing golf for fun, just in case a college golf offer comes her way. But mainly, she is concentrating on school and practicing softball with the Lady Eagles softball team.

Emily’s parents have been instrumental in her success. When I asked her to share what their support has meant to her, she said, “My dad (Jared Patterson) is probably one of the main reasons that I have gotten to this point. My mom (Kim Patterson) has also been very supportive, but my dad was the one who went with me to most of my lessons, was always checking up if he couldn’t make it, and he came to a whole lot of matches when he wasn’t working.”

Parents make a lot of sacrifices behind the scenes that people do not see. They are the invisible cheerleaders and supporters of the sons and daughters. They drive their children to countless practices and games, cook meals, pay the monetary cost of participation, and, provide endless love and counseling for their children along the way.

Emily Patterson’s success is an example of what I call, “Great things happening to great people.” She and her family are great people, and it is so good to see Emily and her family enjoy the successes that have come their way and will continue to do so over the coming years.

RNN Sports would like to congratulate Emily Patterson and her parents, Kim and Jared Patterson, on her success on the golf course and in the classroom. We can’t wait to see what great things she will accomplish in her bright future!